Conflict for Soveignty in North America Continued

Tensions between the English and
Spanish thrones continued, finally
leading
Elizabeth
to sanction an expedition under
Raleigh
against the
Spanish fleet anchored at Cadiz in
southeastern Spain. Raleigh joined
forces with England's temporary ally,
the Dutch, and their combined forces
destroyed the Spanish fleet before its
ships could reach open waters.
Destruction of their naval protection
left the Cadiz open to a landing by
English and Dutch soldiers, and
Robert Devereux (the Earl of Essex)
plundered the town. In retaliation, a
second Armada was sent by Philip the
following year. This time, with her
navy away from home, Elizabeth I
knew that England was extremely
vulnerable; once again, however,
terrible storms in the north Atlantic
devastated the Armada. Elizabeth,
plagued by meager finances and
domestic intrigues, turned cautious.
Ireland was once again in rebellion
against English authority. Devereux,
dispatched to Ireland with a large
force, failed to restore order and
returned to England, with vague and
certainly ill-planned intentions of
taking power from Elizabeth; he failed
in this enterprise as well and was
executed. Command of Elizabeth's
army in Ireland was given to Lord
Mountjoy, an extremely able
strategist, who crushed the rebellion
and restored English control.
Elizabeth's continued reign was
assured, but in one of the great ironies
of history,
Shakespeare's
Richard II
(a metaphor for Essex's intrigue
against Elizabeth) included the
passage quoted in the previous
chapter, words that captured the rising
sense of nationalism and unity within
the English population. Shakespeare
expressed a universal sentiment the
people of England were feeling toward
their country, an attachment that grew
independent of (or in spite of)
commitment to monarchy or any
authority. Elizabeth might preserve her
throne and even die in her sleep, but
the socio-political structure of English
society was moving away from her
form of leadership and control.

As the third decade of the
seventeenth century began, the Dutch
actually emerged first among the
challenges to Spanish and Portuguese
hegemony in the Americas. Dutch
privateers raided Spanish and
Portuguese settlements with increasing
frequency and in 1628 captured a
Spanish treasure fleet leaving the West
Indies. In the meantime, the Anglo-Dutch alliance had also fallen apart as
a result of the growing rivalry between
these two powerful states. France was
also entering the quest for new
markets and territories in the
Americas; and, a Franco-Spanish
alliance aroused a strong Protestant
reaction in England, so that by 1627
tensions erupted into war.

An English fleet under the
command of David Kirke defeated and
captured a French force in the Gulf of
St. Lawrence, then went on to seize
several French fortifications. As a
reward for their efforts, Kirke and his
brothers received a charter from
Charles I, who had ascended to the
throne in 1625 after the death of
James
I, to establish a colony on Cape Breton
Island at the entrance to the St.
Lawrence seaway. With this charter,
of course, came a monopoly over trade
with the indigenous tribes and any
Europeans who might settle within the
jurisdiction of Kirke's grant. Peace
between France and England returned
in 1632, however; and, with the
signing of the treaty Kirke was forced
to relinquish his landholdings to the
French.

In the meantime, the Franco-Spanish alliance broke down in a
dispute over control of continental
territory in the northern part of the
Italian peninsula. France also soon
became embroiled in war with the
Hapsburg empire. In 1630, Spain and
the Hapsburgs reached an accord, then
formed an alliance against the Dutch.
The balance of power among these
European states changed once again in
1640, when the Portuguese withdrew
from the Spanish empire and entered
an alliance with France and England
against Spain. The Portuguese also
successfully drove the Dutch from
Brazil and other Portuguese colonial
outposts. Despite this setback for
Dutch territorial desires, the formal
granting of independence by Spain in
1648 stimulated the new United
Provinces (i.e., the Netherlands) to
renew their colonial adventures in the
Americas.

Another dynamic was added,
favoring Dutch desires, when
England's attentions were diverted by
internal strive between Charles I and
Parliament. Charles I was determined
to restore the powers of absolute
monarchy to the English throne, and in
the process dislodge the Common Law
with royal prerogatives. Almost
immediately, the Scots revolted
against Charles and this perceived
oppression. Charles, in desperate need
of finances and without a standing
army, summoned a Parliament in 1640
in an effort to resolve these problems.
Under the leadership of Edward Coke,
however, this Parliament set about to
dismantle the royal prerogatives
claimed by Charles I. Civil war finally
broke out in 1642 and continued for
four years. During this period, the
Dutch took maximum advantage of
the English absence from the high
seas.

By 1650 civil war in England had
ended and Charles I had been
executed. New leadership had also
emerged in the Netherlands. Factions
in both countries now hoped for
reconciliation, alliance and even the
possibility of unification under one
government. More powerful, however,
were the vested interests in each
country that sought protection from
competition. Under the newly-formed
Commonwealth of England the House
of Commons was made supreme, and
both the monarchy and House of
Lords were abolished. The
administration of government was
vested in the hands of a new Council
of State. In 1650-51 Parliament passed
two Acts that virtually prohibited
direct trade between the Dutch and
England's colonies in North America.
Moreover, England claimed as its own
all of North America from the
southern boundary of Virginia up to
Newfoundland. A brief war broke out
over these trade and territorial
disputes, ending in 1654 after
negotiations by England's new Lord
Protector,
Oliver Cromwell, and a
Dutch agreement to honor English
claims to North America. After
Cromwell's death and England's return
to monarchy under
Charles II, the
Anglo-Dutch disputes accelerated.

The English basis for claiming
sovereignty over North America rested
on the settlements established in
Virginia,
Maryland
and New England
between 1606 and 1640 by two private
joint-stock ventures -- the Northern
Company and the London Company.
The first northern colony (in Maine)
failed to last one winter, and only
repeated rescue missions sustained the
first southern colony of
Jamestown.
Soon, however, the promise of free
land brought immigrants in ever larger
numbers. Poorly conceived plans to
diversify the Virginia colony's
economy brought financial disaster to
the London Company, which was
dissolved in 1624. Granted a royal
charter, the colony continued to
expand in an atmosphere of salutary
neglect. Farms and plantations
stretched out along the banks of the
inland rivers of the Virginia tidewater
region. The first Africans were
brought to Jamestown in 1619, their
numbers increasing after immigration
of indentured workers was restricted
by the English Parliament.

A haven for English and Irish
catholics had been created when
Charles I split off the northern portion
of the Virginia colony and gave this
land to
Sir George Calvert (the first
Lord Baltimore). Although few
catholics actually migrated to
Maryland, the colony's assembly was
the first to pass a law guaranteeing
toleration in the practice of one's
religion. The
Puritans, after
establishing their own English
Congregational Church, left for North
America in 1620 to create a new
society in which they could practice
their own religious beliefs without
interference. They were followed in
1681 by
William Penn's noble
experiment in toleration that became
Pennsylvania.